Similarly the Government touts "the establishment of high quality operations to international standards", when a recent report from the Baku-Ceyhan Campaign identified no fewer than 173 violations of mandatory World Bank standards.

The UK Government's Export Credits Guarantee Department's claim that "significant temporary employment will be created" comes in the same week that workers building the pipeline in Georgia went on strike in protest at reportedly receivingless than 50 US cents a day.

The UK Government shouldn't be using taxpayers' money to support projects that will further fuel climate change. We're bitterly disappointed that despite its so-called commitments to the environment, ECGD is still supporting unsustainable projects.

The ECGD maintains that the project complies with international human rights and environmental standards. This is clearly not the reality. The Kurdish Human Rights Project is in the process of submitting cases to the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of a large number of villagers, who state that their human rights have already been violated.

The Government has recognised the project is not yet satisfactory and has set conditions before cover is made available. No money should be provided until the public has been able to comment on the conditions and on BP's fulfilment of them. Taxpayers must be satisfied that BP has addressed longstanding concerns over compensation and new allegations - admitted by BP - of faulty welding.